good afternoon I'm Oshane Masters with the midday
news a special welcome if you're watching on onespotmedia.com
Opposition Leader Mark Golding, says confidence in the Jamcovid website and mobile application has
been totally destroyed following the discovery of another security lapse according barrett
reports the discovery of a second security gap has raised questions surrounding the basis on
which the developer the amber group three days ago gave assurances there were no more vulnerabilities
with the website and application on monday u.s online newspaper tech crunch reported that the
passwords for the website were left unprotected on the server with that lapse in security by the
amber group people would have been able to get easy access to the backend systems storage and
databases running the jamcobits site and app it's why the opposition leader mark golding says the
situation has exposed jamaica as you know it was discovered some time ago that there was a major
security breach on the jam covered website when that was reported to government they took a few
days upon it to address it and then they reported that it had been sorted out the developers of the
portal said that an independent third party had checked it out and it was all fine and secure
now and so on and now another thing has turned up which is apparently another serious security
breach so it's quite obvious that we don't have competent people dealing with this thing
and it's uh exposing the country to liability uh exposing visitors and jamaicans who have used that
portal for the possibilities of identity theft and so on mr golding is now calling for the government
to publish the contract it has with the amber group i would like the government to immediately
release the contract publish a contract that they have with the developer of the portal so we can
see exactly what it says about compensation about ownership of the data and so on and this should
be independently investigated and reported on we would like to see that done as well the government
has launched an investigation into the initial privacy breach korean barrett tbj news meanwhile
more questions are emerging regarding the jam covet breach and the level of oversight and
testing which was done on the application before its launch some experts question where was ego of
jamaica in all the discussions and testing for the app opposition spokesman on technology hugh graham
says other questions are arising following the two reported breaches on the jamcovid application
chief among them why the development of the application did not go through the government's
tender and procurement procedure he says if it had gone through that procedure there would have been
a rigorous testing of the application to identify breaches before it was launched to the public
speaking on the morning agenda on paul 106 fm on tuesday mr graham says light also needs to
be shed on why such an application was offered to the government at no cost but chief executive
officer of tech a technology company christopher record says that is not an issue it's a timing
situation one is a give back to community another one another one is hey i am doing my business
development opportunity for later opportunities to present itself that that i may be looking
unfavorably so just in general business those things happen a lot and so you know there may be
something fishy and then maybe not so it's just around understanding and i do appreciate huge
question around saying okay why what happened but in this specific case just remember the country
was on a quote-unquote lockdown we didn't go to formal form a lot unlike some other countries
opportunity was presented to say hold on if we build an application like this you can open back
our ports with using this method mr record however says for the breaches to be identified almost
seven months later is not a good look with people's personal data potentially exposed
and the passwords left unsecured on the app that is a massive oversight it's a blunder
um i i do know some of the folks at work outside i work with
the group i haven't spoken with anybody yet but it's a massive oversight and it's um
it's you know hugely embarrassing for for the company and even worse environment for the country
but yes where was ego in all of this and i posited that as a folks maybe igor had no idea that this
thing was being said because again an opportunity to present itself somebody jumps and does it
the the governance on the and the legislation is catching up to technology and as you have
seen over and over it's going to continue going in the future in an article in today's greener acting
chief executive officer of egov anika shuttleworth was asked about what helper organization provided
in developing the application however she refers the paper to the office of the prime minister
for a direct response meanwhile questions are also being raised about the security of
personal information which will be required for the national identification system
needs questions that come to me that i'm speaking about is one of confidence so is is is not so much
whether the technicalities are okay or it is technically competent to do what it is said that
it is going to do but is a confidence that persons have to say okay this situation you have my data
my data is open to to to anybody to do anything with so is is my comfort level
the jamaica teachers association jta has welcomed the government's decision to include the teachers
as a priority group for covert 19 vaccination this following education minister favor williams
announcement last evening sander williams has the details for weeks the jamaica teachers association
jta has been calling on the government to include teachers in the priority groups to
be immunized against covid19 it reasoned that based on the level of interaction with students
during face-to-face sessions teachers faced elevated risk on monday education minister
fayval williams announced that teachers and other persons essential to the operation of schools
will be among the list of persons to receive the vaccine first jta president jason gabriel
says with the spike in kovid 19 cases vaccinating teachers and other workers in the school system
is even more important right now and so we believe that given the nature of the school
system and and the number of students that teaches on other workers on the school plans
have to interact with each day it's very it's very very important that that option be provided
you know still believe that based on what we are seeing now and the asymptomatic nature
of our students some teachers have expressed fear of being among the first batch to get the job
despite this mr gabriel believes there will be increased acceptance when vaccination begins
my interest is that the option be there because certainly we have teachers with comorbidities we
have teachers that continue to be on face-to-face arrangements so they are very very much
exposed and so given the amount of time that has elapsed since other countries would have
started and under different types of vaccines that have been rolled out more and more persons
are making their own analysis of the situation waiting on the passage of time and i believe that
the take-up rate will be higher by time we start the vaccination here in jamaica the jta president
restated his position that face-to-face classes should be halted in the meantime
according to mr gabriel more than 30 schools that had resumed face-to-face operations
have been forced to either pause or stop classes because of coronavirus outbreaks i think we should
be on pause for face to face right now we we are balancing that against the the exigencies of
preparation for external examinations and so on but given what's happening in the health sector
you know and the fact that safety has to be paramount and that we we need to see how best
we can position ourselves to take advantage of a better era of of safely opening our schools i
believe that the risk that we are taking off are where created benefits sandy williams tvj news
and we do apologize for that breaking transmission there are calls for some students to be added to
the list of persons in line to get a job when the vaccine rules roll out begins the government
has initially stated only health care workers members of parliament and seniors would be at
the top of the line to get a shot of the coveted 19 vaccine on monday the government added teachers
to that list but calls are growing for territory students to be included in the first cohort of
persons set to receive the covenanting vaccine in the island several university leaders who
are speaking at the glena editorial editors forum wanted the government to consider the possibility
because students and those in supporting frontline areas of their practice was critical for nursing
students dental hygiene students medical technology students and medical students for
in the case of uwi they all need to be vaccinated those who have to come in for
physical face-to-face laboratory exercises as a part of their training they will be next in line
president of the northern caribbean university professor lincoln edwards
argued that if a government remains adamant that school returned to face-to-face learning
proper measures need to be in place we're going to open back up the school's dead
vaccination has to be widespread to be able to manage that
405 people have now died from covert 19 in jamaica six deaths were confirmed yesterday
all the cases were over 60 years old they are an 88 year old woman from saint elizabeth a
67 year old woman who lived in saint anne and a 63 year old man who resided in saint james
the others are two men 81 and 63 from cholane and a 73 year old man from kingston and saint andrew
meanwhile jamaica recorded 147 new covert 19 cases from 582 samples on monday this represents
a positivity rate of 25 percent their ages range from 90s to 87 years kingston and centennial
recorded 36 cases followed by manchester with 22 while 18 were confirmed in trelloni
the country's overall case count now stands at 21 826 meanwhile the health minister says 267 people
have been hospitalized with a respiratory illness of that number 18 are critically ill while 33 are
moderately ill the number of active cases stands at eight thousand one hundred and sixty-three
data from the jamaica constabulary four shows that two hundred and twelve persons have been murdered
in the island since january 1. this is a six percent increase over the corresponding period
last year shootings are also up nine percent the saint james and centenary south police
divisions recorded the most homicides there were 28 murder sins in james at 250 percent
increase over the same period in 2020. clarendon kingston west kingston central
and the saint catherine north divisions have also seen an uptick in murders and shootings
and olympic gardens in saint andrew is poised for transformation following the groundbreaking
for a recreational park to be built in the area prime minister angel holness says the
project is part of efforts to transform the lives of citizens the project is expected to
address the issues of providing recreational spaces for both young people and the elderly
now mr holness did not give a deadline for the completion of a project
the prime minister says plans are on the way for two more parks to be built
one more in the olympic gardens division and the other in syn friday gardens division
in news overseas two political scandals in peru and argentina over early access to vaccines
have underscored the threat of corruption around pandemic policy in the region more from the cnn
yes over the past two weeks not just one but two separate political scandals erupted in
south america over allegations that conflict 19 vaccines were given to elite privileged group
with connections to the local governments in peru and argentina first was in peru where the former
president martin viscara together with a group of other citizens were given access to the chinese
sino-farm vaccine even before that vaccine was authorized by the peruvian medical authority
and then it took place in argentina where a group of vip people was found to have received
the vaccine directly from the argentinian health ministry essentially skipping the queue of the
vaccination program and this to scan does illustrate the fear that is looming over
the current rush on vaccinations worldwide with governments all over the world focused
on getting as many vaccines out as possible as quickly as possible and these two scandals are not
new situations in south america time and time again we've heard from local leaders
and the latin american politician pledges to clean the house and to fight corruption
whatever it takes but with two different health ministers resigning over the same
allegations in the space of a fortnight doesn't really look good for the local political class
now to news in sports former cricket west indies president dave cameron says he has given
thought to challenging for the leadership of the jamaica cricket association but the time is not
yet right ronaldo brown reports delegates are set to go to the polls this year to vote for the next
president of the jamaica cricket association with current boss wilford billy heaven likely to be
returned unopposed when asked whether he would challenge the incumbent cameron had this to say
i don't think the region is ready for me i don't think i don't i'm not sure if jamaica is ready
for me we get caught up in personalities and side issues rather than how do we get the team to win
how do we continue to produce quality cricketers that can earn a living from this sport and how
do we ensure that the sport continues those are all the things that i'm that i'm interested in
not getting caught up in personalities having said that cameron who is president
of the kensington cricket club in kingston is not dismissing the idea of challenging heaven
if he gets the backing i suppose if the membership wants me to to get them back to
where we need to be then i'll pass publicans today but it's not something that i've had on my radar
cameron has also taken issue with jca vice president dr donovan bennett
when a recent interview on hit's 92 fm sports grill claimed local clubs weren't doing enough to
develop young players i'm somebody who deals with numbers we are the biggest island in the region
by population it means just by sharing numbers you should be dominating westerners cricket we
should be dominating in regional cooking you tell me what we've done in the last six seven years
and the vice president donovan bennett says it's not about performance and the field
the issue is the club and all those people who run clubs um and that's why jamaica is is not
winning anything uh and i'm and i again i call on him to to come forward and tell us what those
and the three-term regional board president also took a job at the delegates
if the jamaican cricket voters electorate believes that i can help but again i don't believe that
they think there's anything wrong with jamaica cricket so again i i have my views i'm not so sure
that the electorate believes that there's anything wrong heaven who beat martinita 62-37 in the 2019
election will be seeking a fourth two-year term in office reynarda braun for tvj sports
and that's the midday news i machine masters
join us at seven for prime time news on behalf of the new sports and production teams good afternoon